Mumbai: Farmers from a village in Marathwada filed a police complaint on Friday against the India Meteorological Department (IMD), accusing it of colluding with seed and pesticide manufacturers and inflating monsoon forecast figures.
The complaint, filed at Dindrud police station in Majalgaon tehsil of Beed district, alleges that officials at the Pune and Colaba Met Department “colluded” with manufacturers and caused losses of lakhs of rupees to farmers who sowed their fields based on the IMD forecast.
Gangabhishan Thaware, 54, a farmer from Anandgaon village in Beed district and a complainant, said IMD officials misled farmers with a forecast that said there would be ample rain during the kharif season in June and July. “Farmers sowed their fields based on the IMD forecast, but after a brief initial spell, there has been no rain and farmers are staring at a bleak future. The sowing operations having gone waste,” Mr. Thaware said.
He added, “Farmers in our region completed pre-sowing operations before June, based on the IMD forecast which said there will be ample rains in June and July. They spent lakhs of rupees on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and labourers wages. But it hasn’t rained since. IMD officials and seed and fertiliser companies who colluded and gave an inflated monsoon forecast are responsible for the plight of farmers and should be taken to task.” Mr. Thaware said farmers have also written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking his intervention.
Dr. P.K. Nandankar, senior scientist, IMD, Pune said information they provide are advisories to the Central and State governments to aid the planning process. “It is up to citizens, including farmers, to interpret them. Every monsoon has a couple of dry spells, and our forecasts had made it clear that the usually arid Marathwada region is going through a dry patch.”
Dismissing the farmers’ allegations, Dr. Nandankar said newspapers had reported extensively on the dry spell in Marathwada. He added that IMD bulletins are sent to the State Department of Agriculture twice a week, and agricultural universities are updated through messages and alerts to help them advise farmers better.
“Our daily 30-page forecast bulletins are not region-specific and cover the whole country. Our short-range forecasts give approximate weather conditions over a five-day period. If we say, for instance, that Marathwada will receive 700 mm rainfall this monsoon as compared to its average 500 mm, we are not exaggerating but merely making a long-term prediction. It entirely depends on how people and farmers use this data,” he said.
An official at Majalgaon police station said they have received the farmers’ complaint and were looking into the matter.
